Seabrook's Chicken Tenders

AYUP! And what, might you ask is Ayup? Of course, it's an all-purpose word that Yorkshire folk use to say "hi, what's happening?", "what are you doing?", "how's the family?", "where are you going?", etc.

Today's recipe is all about the goodness of Yorkshire's own, Seabrook Potato Crisps, or as they are affectionately known, Seabrooks. Seabrooks are produced in the Yorkshire town of Bradford (where the Hubs and 1 tied the knot, so they gotta be great, no?) and according to the Hubs, are the best crisps in all of England...and that is saying a lot, considering there are some three kazillion varities of potato snacky goodness. Seabrooks alone makes some twenty different varieties ranging from Smoky Bacon, to Prawn Cocktail, Chicken & Stuffing, Cream Cheese & Chives to their newer hot and spicy wasabi assortment.

The thing about Seabrooks is that they aren't widely available. Even in the UK, they are difficult to find in the southern counties. And forget trying to find them in the states. When we went to England last Christmas, the Hubs decided he would stock up and bring two cases back with us and he would enjoy them VERY sparingly. Well, he did great on the sparingly part, usually only partaking of a packet during an episode of Dr. Who or some other British TV program he'd downloaded. Well, this was good as far as having the crisps last a long time, but not so good for the quality of the crisps, which don't have a bunch of preservative additives and well, they lost a bit of their crunchy ooomph.

Sooooooo, I thought....what can I do with some of these crisps and I came up with the idea to use them as a breadcrumb-like coating for baked chicken tenders. I rummaged through the Hubs stash of crisps to come up with a variety that would go with the chicken. For example, I thought the Bacon & Brown Sauce, Tomato Ketchup, Beefy, and Sea Salt and Vinegar varities weren't quite right. So I settled on Cheese & Onion. The "recipe" follows...

Ingredients (approximate measures since I didn't use any measuring cups or spoons)
1 lb chicken tenders
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
2 cups (or 4 packets) crushed Seabrooks crisps
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp parsley flakes
Black pepper to taste

I put the crisps into a plastic bag and crushed them into tiny pieces. I don't think it's necessary to grind them up or pulverize them in a blender. The bigger pieces will make for a crunchier coating, the same way panko bread crumbs make a crunchier coating over finer ground bread crumbs.

This next picture really is for my father-in-law, who would be glad to know we are eating free-range, no antibiotic, no hormone, organic chicken, but he'd be even more thrilled that I spied a bargain and got the chicken for 50% off the regular price!!!

Gently beat the egg and milk together in a bowl.

I didn't want to take away from the flavor of the crisps by adding too many seasonings, so I added just a bit more onion flavor with the onion powder and then the parsley and pepper.

Next, I dipped each chicken tender in the egg mixture and coated it in the crisp mixture. The chicken pieces were then placed on a cookie sheet that had been lightly sprayed with an olive oil spray, just so tenders wouldn't stick to the pan.

I baked the chicken crispy critters at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and hoped this experiment would work!

I served the Seabrooks chicken with a side dish of potatos, onions, mushrooms and green beans and presented it to the Hubs as a surprise with a pint of Riggwelter, a Yorkshire ale produced at the Black Sheep Brewery.
The Hubs was indeed surprised, the experiment worked and it was a bit of a fun meal!! The chicken came out pretty crispy and he guessed what the flavor was on the third guess!